Free Bank account

Littleskintdragon84

I was wondering if anyone has any advice on a business bank account for a small business, think side hustle. I want to keep money separate for accounting purposes, but there are so many options. I would like a free account as I don't see the benefit of a paid account for my small business. 
TIA

MikeJXE

NatWest do free for 18 months but if you do a google search there are plenty others I have never heard of 

Littleskintdragon84

MikeJXE said:

NatWest do free for 18 months but if you do a google search there are plenty others I have never heard of 

Thanks I'll have a look at Natwest, there are so many I agree. 

penners324

Starling would be ideal for that

DullGreyGuy

All the traditional high street banks do a 12-24 month free banking period and then the monthly fees kick in. Obviously you could then switch but opening business accounts are often more painful than personal accounts. 

If you want long term free, then you are looking at the challenger banks with the likes of Starling... I say long term rather than permanent as products can be withdrawn and HSBC used to do a forever free (subject to high cash handling fees) "e-business" account that was great for about 4 years and then they stopped it and moved everyone over to a £8/month account. 

SensibleSarah

I'm with Starling for my business account (I'm a sole trader). Free account and had no issues whatsoever in the last 18 months - everything is done digitally with my business i.e. no cash or cheques to worry about etc, so it's really straightforward. 

Pennywise

You get free subscription to Freeagent book-keeping software with a NatWest business account or a Mettle online business bank account (part of Nat West group).  The bank charges for the Natwest account are usually less than the freeagent subscription and as far as I know, Mettle business account is free.

mika_dm

Virgin Money has a free business account and you can get a separate business savings account with 2% interest

digitallife555

Was this ever resolved? I have tried Starling bank but even after tring to make a sole trader acct AND speaking to their email team before trying, they have rejected me with a copy/paste unsucessful reply. This with me stating that it was a side hustle and giving them as much info as i could (As not able to set it up to even start without a bank acct)

It's looking like my only option is to use a Current acct and go against TOS wich i don't really want to do

penners324

Monzo business account is also easy to open 

digitallife555

I'm Guessing my problem with this is that as im only starting out with a "Side Hustle" it's not a "Proper Business" yet as i have not made any sales at this point in time. So have not started to use up my 1kl allowance, and therefore have no need to declare myself as a sole trader in the eyes of HMRC ?? And thats why i was unable to get a soletrader Starling acct?

I've now spoken to a few people who are doing side hustles that make under the 1k and they've mentioned that they have had no pushback from using their Current accounts, and they have taken it that the banks don't see you "As a business" until you make enough to declare to HMRC.

I'm going to give it a few more days / over the weekend before i decide on what to do going forward though